The Rams are reportedly finalizing an agreement to trade wide receiver Allen Robinson to the Pittsburgh Steelers, pending a physical.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who broke the news of the potential trade, reported Tuesday that the Rams will pay Robinson $10.25 million of his salary for the 2023 season and Pittsburgh will pay the remaining $5 million. The teams will swap seventh-round picks, the Rams receiving the 234th overall selection for their 251st pick.
The move comes 13 months after the Rams signed Robinson to a three-year, $46.5 million deal that was expected to bolster their passing attack.
Instead, the Rams and Robinson never seemed to mesh. Robinson had 33 catches for 339 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games. He suffered a stress fracture in his foot late in the season and missed the final six games after undergoing surgery.
With the trade, leading the Rams’ wide receivers room would be Cooper Kupp and Van Jefferson after injury-plagued 2022 seasons.
Kupp followed his spectacular 2021 campaign, in which he led the league in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, by suffering a season-ending high ankle sprain in Week 10. He finished with 75 receptions for 812 yards and six TDs. Jefferson missed the first seven games of the 2022 season with a knee injury and recorded 24 catches for 369 yards and three TDs.
After that, the Rams have Ben Skowronek (39 catches for 376 yards), TuTu Atwell (18 catches for 298 yards and 1 TD) and sparsely used Austin Trammell and Lance McCutcheon.
The Rams, coming off a 5-12 season, could target wide receivers in the draft, which starts April 27. While they do have 11 picks in the draft, they are without a first-rounder – their eventual No. 6 overall pick was part of the package to acquire Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford in January 2021.
The Rams’ first selection is scheduled to come in the second round (36th overall), followed by two in the third round – their own pick at 69th overall and the 77th overall pick acquired last month when they sent star defensive back Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins.
